The Enid Blyton Society

Tony - In the Summer 2002 edition of the Journal (page 18) you mention you were looking for the story Well Really, Mrs Twiddle. A possibility was in Good Housekeeping Toddlers Book published in July 1945. I have now acquired a copy of this book published by Gramol Publications Ltd. The book is not dated but is probably from the fifties judging by the pictures. There is no story inside.

Being honest I had quite forgotten there was a Mrs Twiddle.

Further to the above post,the cave does list the story.

Well, Really, Mrs Twiddle
Story: Source not yet found

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Here's an excerpt from the book which contains Well, Really, Mrs Twiddle if you haven't read it:

Well, Really, Mrs Twiddle

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The story also appears in Enid Blyton's Sunshine book as do most of the stories from the Gay Street book. Thanks for that Pete, I love Enid's introduction.

I don't know where the story was first published but the title was clearly printed incorrectly - it ought to be Well, Really, Mr. Twiddle! It's still wrong in my 1970s Enid Blyton's Sunshine Book. I wonder if it has been corrected in more recent reprints?

Actually, it would have been funny if there had been a story in which Mrs. Twiddle was the foolish one for once!

This was one of my son's favourite stories when he was little. Mr. Twiddle and Brer Rabbit were probably his favourite "Blyton" characters (though of course Brer Rabbit wasn't created by Enid).

It's amusing that Enid Blyton mistakenly calls Mr. Meddle "Mr. Neddle" in her introduction to the Gay Street Book!

I have that story both in the Gay Street Book and also the Sunshine Book, and have read it many times, but never really questioned the title! It's even more odd when you consider that Enid also used the story title 'Well, Really, Mr Twiddle!' for the opening story in the Mr Twiddle book of the same name in 1953 - but of course it's an entirely different story!

This story is one of our failures, as neither David Chambers or myself have been able to find the original source. As I am sure some of you know as I have mentioned it before, I have a large workbook that Enid kept where she listed all the stories that she used in her short story anthologies and the one for the Gay Street Book makes interesting reading.



You will see that the Mrs Twiddle story is listed as being specially written for 'Ewing's Annual' but as yet we have failed to find this annual. Coincidentally one of the stories that is listed as 'Not Used' is 'An Unexpected Adventure' which I am using in Journal 59 - another quite long one with heaps of illustrations, it took me several days to get it right for the Journal! It is also interesting to see that the story I used in the last Journal, 'What Happened Over the Wall' was also not included in the book, I would guess it was just too long.

Interesting stuff, Tony. I wonder if anyone can solve the mystery of Ewing's Annual!

It's a mystery alright.I wonder if it will ever be solved.

Here's another short Mr Twiddle excerpt.

This 1943 story again finds Mrs Twiddle ill in bed,and may pre-date the story above?
See if Mr Twiddle handles he wife's illness any better on this occasion!

Don't Be Silly, Mr. Twiddle! (excerpt)

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I guess with its Twiddle title few people will bother to look at this thread (not a catchy title like 'Favourite Brands of Tea'! ) but I was interested and started comparing the page that I have posted above with the actual contents of the Gay Street Book and it seems that 'What Happened Over the Wall' wasn't the only long story left out as 'The Disappearing Prizes' is also missing. At 6000 words it must be one of Enid's longer short stories and I was interested enough to read it. Sadly I don't think it is going to be suitable for a future Journal, as apart from one coloured illustration elsewhere in the book the story itself, like all the others in the book, has no illustrations. If anyone can find a copy of the book it is worth a read.

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What a pity 'The Disappearing Prizes' has no illustrations apart from one in colour. One possibility might be to print it in the Journal in two parts (either two parts in the same Journal, with other contributions in between, or across two consecutive Journals).

Looking at the other Burke books, I've never read 'Merry and the Clowns' either.

Tony Summerfield wrote:I guess with its Twiddle title few people will bother to look at this thread (not a catchy title like 'Favourite Brands of Tea'! )

I for one look at all the active threads every day, Tony, not just the tea-related ones!

I'm happy to say I was in the minority Tony. I haven't looked at the tea thread for ages

I'm a bit confused by the Twiddle story, but as always it was interesting to see a page from Enid's work book.

I think Anita's suggestion is excellent - I would certainly like to read a story I would probably otherwise never encounter - even if it was posted in sections in the Journal.

Isn't that what Enid herself did in her regular magazines,left the reader wanting more and made her readers look forward eagerly to the next instalment?

Yes, although in her case the instalments came slightly quicker than every 4 months!!

Tony wrote:This story is one of our failures, as neither David Chambers or myself have been able to find the original source.

As neither you nor David can find it, it must be a nigh on impossible task! Looking at Enid's terrible handwriting, it is also impossible to read the status of the Twiddle title.